Livestock production and manure management in EU-27 · © Oene Oenema, Wageningen UR Animal production and its effects are changing ... cyclic process of activities 1. ... Helps to

© Oene Oenema, Wageningen UR © Oene Oenema, Wageningen UR

Livestock production and manure

management in EU-27

Oene Oenema

Wageningen University

ReUseWaste Kick off meeting

Copenhagen, Denmark Sept 24-26, 2012

© Oene Oenema, Wageningen UR

Outline

Agriculture in European Union (EU-27)

Livestock production in EU-27

Manure management

Summary


European Union (EU-27)

27 countries

4.2 million km2

500 million people

23 official languages

UAA: 1.6 million km2

7 million farms

Average size 22 ha


Potential crop yields in EU-27


Agriculture in European Union (EU-27)

Diverse farming systems

Type (crop/animal/mixed)

Size

Management

Diverse environment

Climate

Soils


Livestock uses ~ 70% of agricultural land in EU

Grassland

Arable land for

feed

Arable land for

food


Self sufficiency of main food products in EU-27, in %


Consumption of animal protein increasing

FAO, 2010


0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Sh

ee

p &

Go

at,

millio

n

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Ca

ttle

, m

illio

n

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Pig

s, m

illio

n

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Po

ult

ry

, m

illio

n

Cattle

- 10% Sheep & goat

+10%

Pigs

+ 70% Poultry

+60%

FAO, 2007

Number of animals; EU-27, 1960-2005


0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Ch

ick

en

, b

illio

ns

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Pig

s, m

illio

ns

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

ca

ttle

, m

illio

ns

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Sh

ee

p, m

illio

n

Cattle

+ 30%

Pigs

+ 150%

Sheep & goats

+ 30%

Poultry

+ 400%

FAO, 2007

Number of animals; World, 1960-2005


Animal production and its effects are changing

Demography &

prosperity

Technology & Business

development

Governmental

Policies

Public Pressure

Groups

Animal species &

number

Location & size of

animal systems

Type & organization

of animal systems

Animal

performance

Emissions &

resource use

Animal health &

welfare

Livelihoods

Driving Forces Changes in

animal

production

Effects

After Steinfeld et al., 2006; 2010; FAO, 2010


Trends in livestock development

Specialization

Intensification

Up-scaling

Agglomeration

Increase competitiveness


Agriculture Resources

Food, Income,

Services, fiber

Emissions to air

Emissions

to water

UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol UNECE-CLRTAP Gothenburg Protocol

EU National Emissions Ceilings Directive

EU IPPC

EU CAP + cross

compliance

EU Rural Development

Program

EU Water Framework

Directive

EU Nitrates Directive

EU Directive on

Pesticides

EU Strategy for

Sustainable Development

EU Birds &

Habitat Directives

EU Soils Strategy EU Groundwater Directive

EU Animal Welfare

EU Food Quality

Regulation

EU Biofuel Directive

Agriculture in EU and Governmental Policy


Livestock production systems

• Grassland-based dairy production

• Grassland-based beef production

• Mixed crop-pig and crop-poultry production

• Specialized, land-less pig and poultry production

• Grassland-based sheep and goat production


Nitrogen balance in Ag. in EU-27 in 2000

Velthof et al. (2008)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

total N

excretion

applied

fertilizer

N

fixation

N

deposition

N

yield

NH3

emission

N2O

emission

NOx

emission

N2

emission

N leaching

Tg N per year

dairy

cattle

other

cattle

pigs

poultry

other

grass-

land

other

crops

N input N output


What is manure management?

…… process of collecting, handling, storing and allocating of manure....

……. to achieve agronomic and environmental objectives….


Management: cyclic process of activities

1. Analysis

2. Decision making

3. Planning

4. Execution

5. Monitoring

6. Evaluation

Achieving

objectives


Achieving objectives of manure management

Agronomic objectives

● Achieve high nutrient use efficiency

● Effective use of organic matter

Environmental objectives

● Low emissions

Social/societal objectives

● Safety (NH3, H2S toxicity)

● Human health (pathogens, zoonosis), no odour


Livestock

population

Manure

application Livestock

feeding

Manure in

housings

Manure

storages

Fertilizer

application Grazing

animals

Humans’ quest for

animal protein Low-emission techniques and management approaches

Feed production

Manure management requires chain approach


Comparison of pig production costs

Euro per kg slaughter weight (at sector level)

Hoste and Puister, 2009


Additional costs in pig production due to measures

Euro cent per kg slaughter weight (at sector level)

Hoste and Puister, 2009


Summary and conclusions

Livestock production in EU-27 is diverse;

Strong agglomeration in specific areas;

● Regional surpluses of manures;

● Need for manure processing

Amounts of N and P in manures are as large as in fertilizers

Storage and use of manures regulated by EU policies

No major changes expected in livestock production volumes


Difference between ‘excretion’ and ‘production’

Excretion = amounts of carbon and nutrients excreted (‘under the tail’)

Production = amounts applied to land (excreted amounts corrected for ‘un-avoidable’ gaseous losses during storage


Calculation of nutrient excretion

Basic formula:

Nutrient excretion = nutrient intake – nutrients in marketable animal products,

where, ‘marketable’ products = milk, meat, egg, wool


Management measures & manure excretion

Many measures affect manure excretion and production:

Herd management:

Genetic potential

Animal health management

Reproduction management

Animal feed management

Precision feeding, depending on production phase of the animal

Grazing management

Low-protein feeding

Low-P diets

Water supply

Supplementation of metals, antibiotics , hormones

Housing management

Indoor climate (temperature, ventilation, NH3 and PM2.5 concentrations, etc.

Space per animal

Bedding material


Manure management

Coherent chain approach:

1. Targeted animal feeding (N & P contents in feed)

2. Calculation of manure production: amounts of N and P

3. Collection of all urine and faeces in animal housing systems

4. Leak-tight & covered storages; capacity minimal 6 months

5. Prohibition period for manure application (~5 months)

6. Low-emission manure application techniques; injection in soil

7. Soil- and crop-specific application limits

8. Manure transport to other farms if production > application


Simple formula for feed requirements dairy cattle

DM intake = q * [MW * a + LWG * b + MY * c]

where

DM intake = total dry matter intake, in kg/cow/year

MW = metabolic weight = (weigth)0.75 , in kg

LWG = liveweight gain, in kg/year

MY = milk yield per ruminant, kg/year

a, b, c and q are empirical constants


N excretion dairy cattle as function of milk

yield

y = 0.0101x + 57

y = 0.0081x + 66

y = 0.0074x + 42

y = 0.0067x + 55

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

2500 3500 4500 5500 6500 7500 8500 9500

Milk yield, kg per cow

N e

xc

reti

on

, k

g p

er

co

w


N excretion other cattle, kg/animal/year

Cattle category Average

estimate

Lower

estimate

Upper

estimate

Replacement cattle, < 1 yr; 30 25 45

Replacement cattle, > 1 yr; 60 40 80

Fattening calves <0.5 year; 15 10 30

Fattening bulls 0.5-1.5 year 35 30 50

Suckling cows > 2 years 70 50 90

Other fattening cattle <1

year

35 30 50

Other fattening cattle >1

year

60 40 80


In the Gothenburg Protocol, N management is

seen as a measure to reduce NH3 emissions

An integral measure to decrease N losses and to improve the performance of the farm;

Helps to prevent pollution swapping, esp. mixed farms

Indicators:

N surplus = Ninput-Noutput

NUE = Noutput/Ninput

But benchmarking needed


Conclusions (i)

Little empirical information about cost of N management;

Cost of N management tend to go down over time;

Cost-effectiveness largest on large farms;

Indirect effects appear significant.

More studies needed!!


Conclusions (ii)

Relatively cheap measures include:

● Proper timing of activities;

● Increasing N fertilizer value of manure;

● Selecting high-yielding varieties and breeds;

● Precision fertilization and precision feeding;

● Optimization of crop and animal husbandry


Conclusions (iii)

Relatively expensive measures include:

● Fertilizer application far below economic optimum;

● Leak-tight and covered manure storages;

● Low-emissions animal housing;

● Long-distance manure transport

● Manure treatment

Cost of manure disposal


Questions?

Thank you!


Questions?

Thank you!


Agriculture Resources Food, Income,

Services, fiber

Emissions to air

Emissions

to water

UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol UNECE-CLRTAP Gothenburg Protocol

EU National Emissions Ceilings Directive

EU IPPC

EU CAP + cross

compliance

EU Rural Development

Program

EU Water Framework

Directive

EU Nitrates Directive

EU Directive on

Pesticides

EU Strategy for

Sustainable Development

EU Birds & Habitat

Directives

EU Soils Strategy EU Groundwater Directive

EU Animal Welfare

EU Food Quality

Regulation

EU Biofuel Directive

Documents

Livestock production and manure management in EU-27 · © Oene Oenema, Wageningen UR Animal production and its effects are changing ... cyclic process of activities 1. ... Helps to